For the first time this season it was champagne conditions at Welland Yacht Club on Sunday – the sun was out; water levels were high and for most of the day there was a nice breeze.
These conditions attracted 13 boats for the first race which had a short beat up to mark one which resulted in a very crowded start line.
First away was Mark Scourfield in his Solo, with Keiron Powell and Andy Prior both half a boat behind in their Lasers.
Prior was first to tack but this caught Alan Chapman, also in a Laser, by surprise and he fell out of the back of his boat as he tacked. The empty boat then ‘collided’ with Gerri van Haren’s Phantom slowing him down considerably.
The rest of the fleet all managed to round buoy one safely although the field was very strung out by this time, particularly as Richard Stedman, sailing a Comet got stuck on the river bank.
On the upwind leg Prior managed to pass Scourfield after a short luffing match and rounded the mark first.
On the beat back to the clubhouse van Harren and Powell made up some distance and were challenging Scourfield and Prior.
Prior held on to first spot on the water and had built a short lead by the finish of the race, van Haren crossed second followed by Cox. Scourfield came in next but moved up to second spot on corrected time.
Race one results: 1st Andy Prior (Laser), 2nd Mark Scourfield (Solo), 3rd Keiron Powell (Laser), 4th Alan Cox (Laser), 5th Helen Boyd (Solo), 6th Andy Agar (OK), 7th Gerri van Haren (Phantom), 8th Mark Holland (Laser), 9th Alan Chapman (Laser), 10th Martin Cook (Solo), 11th Neal Tack and Rebecca Slator (2000), 12th Geoff Tibbs (Comet), 13th Richard Stedman (Comet).
Race two saw 12 starters as van Haren did not take part.
Again Scourfield got the best start, he was followed closely by Chapman and Cox, with Prior just behind.
On the long reach up to the second mark Prior passed Chapman but was a distance behind Cox by the time they rounded.
On the long beat back Prior overtook Cox but then capsized shortly afterwards allowing Cox to regain the lead and the rest of the field to close up.
Cox made the most of the lead and kept this position for the rest of the race.
Although Prior stayed in second, Scourfield was close enough to take that spot on handicap from Prior.
Richard Steadman took a well deserved fourth spot on handicap in the slower Comet.
Race two results: 1st Cox, 2nd Scourfield, 3rd Prior, 4th Stedman, 5th Powell, 6th Boyd, 7th Holland, 8th Cook, 9th Agar, 10th Tack and Slator, 11th Chapman.
As this was the last race in the Munson Cup series the overall results were: 1st Prior, 2nd Adam Stabler, 3rd Tack and Slator.
By the third race the wind had dropped slightly but was still sufficient to provide good sailing for the nine competitors that remained.
With the course the same, competitors knew how to tackle the start and a number of boats got excellent starts but this time it was Prior who made the most of it and rounded buoy one first.
He was closely followed by Powell and then Cox with Boyd making a better start this time.
Uncharacteristically Scourfield got a slower start and was left playing catch up.
Over the second leg Prior and Powell pulled ahead of the chasing pack with Prior just ahead but Scourfield managed to pick his way through the pack to sit just behind Cox.
Powell and Prior continued to extend their lead until half way through the second lap when the wind dropped but then filled in from the back allowing first Scourfield, and then Cox, to catch up, with all four rounding the mark closely together.
Although Prior did extend his lead slightly and crossed first, the chasing boats were close behind.
Once handicaps were applied Prior took the win by only six seconds from Scourfield, who in turn was less than a minute ahead of Powell and Cox.
Race three results: 1st Prior, 2nd Scourfield, 3rd Powell, 4th Cox, 5th Boyd, 6th Agar, 7th Holland, 8th Stedman, 9th Tack and Slator.
